Chapter 5 - The Truth Ethan Left Behind
The building alarm was still screaming.
The sound echoed through the apartment walls like a warning.
Like the entire world was telling me to run.
But I couldn't move.
I was staring at the message on Adrian's phone.
"Bring Savannah alone. She deserves to know why I left."
My husband.
The man I buried in my heart three months ago.
The man I believed abandoned me and our son.
Was alive.
And he wanted to see me.
"Is he really alive?"
My voice barely came out.
Adrian looked at me.
For the first time since I met him, he didn't seem like a man who controlled everything.
He looked like someone who had just lost control of something important.
"Yes."
The answer hurt more than I expected.
Because a part of me had spent months wishing for this.
Wishing Ethan would walk through the door.
Wishing he would apologize.
Wishing he would tell me there was a reason.
But now that it was happening, I wasn't ready.
"Where is he?"
Adrian didn't answer.
"Where?"
His eyes moved toward the hallway.
"Not here."
I followed his gaze.
The bedroom door was still open.
The place where someone had been.
The place where someone had watched us.
"We need to leave."
I shook my head.
"No."
Adrian looked at me.
"I need answers."
"You won't get them by staying here."
"I spent three months alone with a baby wondering if my husband was dead."
My voice cracked.
"I deserve answers."
Adrian didn't argue.
Because he knew I was right.
A few seconds passed.
Then he nodded.
"Okay."
I looked at him.
"Okay?"
"We find the truth."
He turned to his security team.
"Secure the apartment."
One of the men stepped forward.
"Mr. Cross, we should move immediately."
Adrian looked at him.
"I said secure it."
The man's expression changed.
He understood.
Adrian wasn't leaving because he was afraid.
He was leaving because he wanted whoever was watching to believe they had won.
I hated how quickly I was beginning to understand his world.
A world I never wanted to enter.
I packed quickly.
Only the things Noah needed.
A bottle.
A blanket.
Extra clothes.
My hands shook the entire time.
Because every object inside my apartment suddenly felt like a memory.
The couch where Ethan and I watched movies.
The kitchen where he made breakfast.
The bedroom where he promised he would never leave.
Promises.
That was the cruelest part.
People could make them so easily.
And break them even easier.
When I walked back into the living room, Adrian was standing near the window.
Looking outside.
"What are you doing?"
"Checking the street."
"For what?"
"Anything unusual."
I almost smiled.
Almost.
Because before tonight, I would have thought that was ridiculous.
Now I understood.
"Do you always live like this?"
Adrian didn't turn around.
"Like what?"
"Waiting for someone to attack you."
A pause.
"Yes."
That answer was too simple.
Too honest.
I looked at him.
"Doesn't it get exhausting?"
His reflection stared back at me through the glass.
"Yes."
For a moment, I saw something behind the dangerous reputation.
A lonely man.
Someone who had spent years surviving instead of living.
Then he turned away.
The moment disappeared.
A few minutes later, we left the apartment.
Adrian's Mercedes waited outside.
Rain covered the windows.
I sat in the back seat with Noah while Adrian sat across from me.
The silence was uncomfortable.
Not because we had nothing to say.
Because there was too much.
Finally, I broke it.
"Why did Ethan know you?"
Adrian looked at me.
"I don't know if he knew me."
"But he contacted you."
"Someone using his identity contacted me."
I froze.
"What?"
Adrian looked down.
"That's why I need to find out who is really behind this."
I stared at him.
"So you don't even know if the person texting you is Ethan?"
"No."
The answer made everything worse.
"But the hospital photo..."
"Could have been taken by someone who wanted us to believe he was alive."
I looked at Noah.
My head was spinning.
"Then why say his name?"
Adrian was silent.
Because he didn't know.
And that frightened me.
After thirty minutes, the car stopped outside an abandoned warehouse near the edge of the city.
I looked out the window.
"This is where he wants to meet?"
"Yes."
I felt uneasy.
"You trust him?"
Adrian looked at the building.
"No."
"Then why are we here?"
"Because sometimes the only way to find the truth is to walk into the trap."
I didn't like that answer.
But I followed him.
Inside the warehouse, everything was quiet.
Too quiet.
Adrian's men checked the area.
Nothing.
No movement.
No voices.
No Ethan.
My heart sank.
"Maybe he isn't coming."
Adrian looked at his phone.
"He will."
"How do you know?"
"Because he sent this."
He showed me another message.
A countdown.
Five minutes.
Four minutes.
Three.
I stared at the screen.
"This is insane."
Adrian looked at me.
"You're scared."
"Of course I'm scared."
I held Noah closer.
"My husband disappeared. Someone broke into my home. A stranger who happens to be a mafia boss is protecting me. And now I'm waiting in an abandoned building because a dead man wants to talk."
Adrian was quiet.
Then he said:
"You should be scared."
I looked at him.
"That's not comforting."
"No."
His expression softened slightly.
"But it's honest."
The countdown reached zero.
Nothing happened.
No footsteps.
No voice.
No Ethan.
Then Adrian's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered immediately.
"Where are you?"
A man's voice came through the speaker.
I couldn't hear everything.
Only fragments.
Then Adrian's face changed.
The call ended.
"What?"
He looked at me.
"He isn't coming here."
My heart dropped.
"Why?"
Adrian looked toward the far side of the warehouse.
"Because he was never outside."
I frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Adrian didn't answer.
Instead, he walked toward a small table near the wall.
Something was sitting on it.
A folder.
My name was written on the front.
I felt sick.
"That wasn't there before."
Adrian opened it carefully.
Inside were documents.
Photos.
Records.
Everything about my life.
My childhood.
My marriage.
My pregnancy.
Noah.
Someone had been watching me for years.
I picked up one photo.
It was me leaving the hospital after Noah was born.
I was holding my baby.
Ethan was beside me.
But someone had circled Ethan's face.
Red ink.
And written underneath:
"He failed."
My fingers went numb.
"Who did this?"
Adrian turned the page.
Then stopped.
His expression changed.
"What?"
He didn't answer.
"Adrian."
Slowly, he handed me the final document.
It was a birth record.
Noah's birth record.
But something was wrong.
The father's name had been changed.
I looked at Adrian.
"Ethan's name was removed."
Adrian nodded.
"Someone altered the record."
"Why?"
He looked at the bottom of the page.
There was a signature.
A name.
A name I recognized.
A name I had not seen in years.
My mother-in-law.
The woman who cried at Ethan's funeral.
The woman who told me her son was gone forever.
I looked up.
"She knew?"
Adrian didn't answer.
Because his phone suddenly received a video file.
No message.
No explanation.
Just a name.
Ethan Brooks.
Adrian pressed play.
The screen showed a dark room.
A man sitting in a chair.
Older.
Tired.
But alive.
My breath stopped.
Because after three months of believing my husband had abandoned me...
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Ethan looked directly into the camera and said:
"Savannah, if you are watching this, it means they already found you..."
